Monday, December 17, 2012

SantaCon

photo: Jim.henderson

Democracy is a fine thing, but there is a price to pay by
some individuals for the rights we offer to others. One of these is the right
to congregate. Without whittling down our liberties, democracy does propose
limitations such as the famous Schenck decision in which Oliver Wendall Holmes
argued that it wasn’t alright to shout fire in a crowded theater. Which brings
us to SantaCon which just occurred this past Saturday. Hundreds of twenty
somethings dressed in Santa Outfits descended upon Manhattan bars, giving early warning signs as to what the actual fall of Western Civilization will be
like. The Birds not withstanding, Hitchcock couldn’t have dreamt up SantaCon, which had all the worst aspects of the heinous and ubiquitous New York Street
fare and parade rolled up into one. The Mayans prophesied that the world will end on December 21,
but while it didn’t on December 15, Santacom was a death rattle, its vulgarity
and stupidity, brazenly turning the iconic Miracle on 34th Street into A Clockwork Orange. SantaCon is like a nightmare in which Santa goes
on the rampage, marauding and pillaging. It wouldn't be surprising to find a new release by Stephen King entitled SantaCon where Santa
like the family pet inCujo turns
vicious.

2 comments:

I had to google Santacon to believe it. Everything old is new again: during Cromwell's reign (and afterward in some parts of the American colonies where Puritans set the rules), Christmas celebrations were banned. Drunken young men carousing the streets, gluttony, raucous good cheer, and sinful bright costuming were forbidden. Will Santacon's over-the-top celebrations lead to a Puritanical response? The smell of a holiday goose cooking in Cromwell's England would bring a visit from the police and a hefty fine, or time in the stocks. Is that when and where the phrase "Your goose is cooked" originated?

If Cromwell is where your goose is cooked comes from then I'm all for Cromwell. Geese are beautiful animals who don't deserve to be cooked though I'll admit it, I too eat them, trying to pretend that what's on my place was never a living thing. If SantaCon brings about a Cromwellian reaction, shouldn't it be rethought? The chain vomiting Santas recall the famous scene in Monty Python, but something has got to give when this kind of anarchy is loosed upon our streets. best Francis

About Me

Francis Levy's debut novel, Erotomania: A Romance, was released in August 2008 by Two Dollar Radio.
His short stories, criticism, humor, and poetry have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, The Village Voice, The East Hampton Star, The Quarterly, Penthouse, Architectural Digest, TV Guide, The Journal of Irreproducible Results, and other publications. One of his Voice humor pieces was anthologized in The Big Book of New American Humor (HarperCollins). He is presently the Co-Director of The Philoctetes Center for the Multidisciplinary Study of Imagination (philoctetes.org), where he supervises roundtable discussions on topics as varied as “The Psychology of the Modern Nation State” and “Modern Traffic Theory, Behavior, and Imagination”.